Highlights of 2023

2022: The highlights:  

• Work with mental health to set up a sensory room for mental health patients;
• Digital mammography equipment with the new tomosynthesis technology was installed;
• We added new equipment for the lab, which will help staff and improve service for patients;
• The announced expansion of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) requires 10 new ICU nurses. It is hard to recruit nurses with specialized training. We paid for six nurses to take the critical care course; the others were recruited. We also bought patient lifts, cardiac monitors and defibrillators and the equipment needed for the expansion;
• Digital microscopy was installed in the lab and is now in use;
• We bought new monitoring equipment for the Emergency Room. The Emergency Room has been very busy and is often short staffed. The new monitors help the staff cope with the higher volume of patients.
• We purchased other smaller pieces of equipment last year, and payed for nurse training in other disciplines.

2021: The Health Authority asked us to raise funds for two significant pieces of equipment: GeneXpert system for the lab, and a new medication dispensing system for every department in the Yorkton Regional Hospital.

Current lab equipment does not allow for sufficient volume of testing to meet increasing demand and it does not allow molecular PCR testing – this is done in Regina and Saskatoon. 

The new GeneXpert system increases our testing on Flu A/B, Covid, Influenza (respiratory viruses) from 16 diagnosis per eight-hour shift to 128; an eightfold increase. It alloww testing to be done locally and significantly increase the time a diagnosis can be provided.

In addition it allows molecular testing to be done locally. Earlier diagnostic results across these tests will improve management of outbreaks for Covid, Flu, C-Diff and TB.

The new medication dispensing equipment has a variety of benefits for patients and has become the standard across Canada. Some 80% of Canadian hospitals and virtually 100% of emergency departments in regional or larger hospitals in Canada utilize these systems. 

2020: The Health Foundation has purchased important equipment for the Yorkton Regional Health Centre in 2020 (photo above), made possible by generous donations and despite the fact that major fund-raising events had to be cancelled due to Covid-19.

• A special freezer that allows the hospital to store a specialty cancer treatment drug was purchased, allowing the hospital to provide a new services so patients do not have to travel.
• A new telemetry system for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Yorkton Regional Hospital was purchased at a cost of $365,000. It was expensive, but when we talk about the ICU we really are talking about life saving equipment. 
• Two ventilators for the Yorkton Regional Hospital. The provincial government agreed to buy one ventilator if we raised the funds for two. We purchased a neo-natal ventilator for use in the maternity department and another for respiratory services which will be used mainly in the Emergency Room and the ICU. The neo-natal ventilator is needed for babies born with respiratory conditions who have difficulty breathing or cannot breathe without assistance.
• Vein finder machine. One was purchased over a year ago and it was exceptionally well received by staff and patients, but it was not enough to meet the needs of the hospital. It illuminates the vein so that it is easy for staff to find the vein and insert a needle painlessly. 
• Vital laboratory equipment for the Yorkton Regional Health Centre.  

2019: The Health Foundation raised funds for new state of the art digital mammography equipment for the regional hospital in Yorkton. The new equipment is a key step forward in breast cancer detection technology. It will save lives. It will detect cancers that the existing equipment cannot, and it will detect other cancers and lesions earlier than current mammography equipment. 

The purchase of this equipment is also necessary to continue the breast screening program in Yorkton, which serves all of east central Saskatchewan. The screening program is very busy, averaging over 5,000 women annually. 

The only proven method of reducing breast cancer deaths is early detection, which is why breast screening is conducted. 

The new equipment was expensive; it costs just over $500,000, but the technology is proven to diagnose cancer earlier and more accurately. It will save lives. The Health Foundation is one of three health foundations in the province to all raise funds and purchase the equipment in 2019. A group purchase enabled them to get a better price. 

2018: Lab equipment for the regional hospital, and facilities in the health region.
The five primary pieces of equipment needed were: 

• Digital Microscopy system
• Hematology analyzer 
• Centrifuge
• Microscope 
• Stainer 

These total $330,000. The digital microscopy system is a new service that will be a major upgrade to lab services. The other pieces of equipment are upgrades from existing equipment, so it is on par with the microscopy system. They allow staff to detect a greater range of disease and infection than current equipment. Once the new equipment is in place the lab will be able to diagnose conditions it can’t currently. 

In addition there was another $150,000 worth of lab equipment needed for sites outside Yorkton: the acute care sites in Canora, Kamsack, Preeceville, and Esterhazy need new centrifuges and hematology analyzers at a cost is around $37,000 per site. 

Other priorities included:

• $59,500 to pay for the equipment and renovations to create two dedicated palliative care rooms in the regional hospital
• $60,000 to renovate a room and establish a second bathing room in the hospital: some renovations, a new whirlpool tub with a lift, a ceiling track lift to assist patients getting in and out of the tub
• $25,740 for a vein finder for the hospital which has been purchased
• $11,000 for a medication cart for ICU
• $21,060 for a bladder scanner

In addition the Charity Golf Classic purchased about $70,000 worth of smaller equipment for facilities in Canora, Yorkton, Foam Lake and Langenburg.

We also spent approximately $25,000 each year on the scholarship program to assist nurses and therapists to upgrade their clinical skills.  

2017: Medical equipment, and more money raised for a new hospital

The Health Foundation purchased medical equipment valued at $587,662 for the health region in 2017.  

In addition, $253,000 was set aside for the new hospital fund. These proceeds came from the Farming for Health project. The Farming for Health project has reached its goal of raising $1 million, and all of those funds have been set aside for the new hospital. Farming for Health will continue but in future years the funds raised will buy needed medical equipment. 

Because of the generosity of our donors we purchased several pieces of equipment that are making a difference in our healthcare: 

• Two infant resuscitation machines with radiant warmers for maternity,
• Two anesthetic machines for the operating rooms (we agreed to buy one if the government bought one),
• Two ventilators for the Intensive Care Unit.

In addition, working with Brayden Ottenbreit Close cuts for Cancer we were able to renovate, furnish and equip two rooms for palliative care in Jowsey House at the Yorkton and District Nursing Home. This equipment and the palliative care rooms added up to $252,000. 

We also raised and spent $118,472 on many smaller pieces of equipment, like a scope for the Ear Nose and Throat Clinic, equipment for nurses working in homecare, and of course we buy equipment for most of the facilities outside of Yorkton. 

Another $26,390 was awarded in education scholarships in 2017, to assist nurses and therapists who want to improve their clinical care skills so they can look after patients to the best of their ability. Sometimes when it has been difficult to recruit people for positions, The Foundation provides funds so nurses or medical technicians can take additional training. 

The surgical microscope cost $190,800 after taxes. Fundraising for this continued into early 2018 but we ordered the machine because it’s so important; without it we don’t have a cataract surgery program. The remaining funds were raised early in the new year. 

2016: New equipment for the intensive care unit at the regional hospital

The year 2016 started with the goal to finish the campaign to raise funds for the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) monitoring equipment, specifically a new state-of-the-art central monitoring system and eight telemetry units for the ICU in the regional hospital in Yorkton. 

This equipment is expensive with a cost of $421,000, but considering how vital the equipment is, and how many people will use it, it can be seen to be necessary. The ICU in the regional hospital cares for the most critically ill patients, who are often in life-threatening situations and require the most intensive level of care. Often it is a struggle for the doctors and nurses to keep a patient alive. 

The central monitoring system and the telemetry units that have been used by the ICU are old and at the end of their life. They need to be replaced because they are breaking down. Two of the telemetry units have broken down and are not repairable. Technology has made significant advances in the last 10 years and the new equipment will do a better job. At least 1,200 people use the ICU in the regional hospital every year. The better the equipment monitoring and accessing patient conditions the better the chance of a successful outcome for patients. This new equipment will help to save lives. 

2015: Almost $1 million for a new CT scan and other essential equipment

2014: $1 million for equipment and a new hospital

2013: $600,000 for medical equipment and $500,000 for the new regional hospital

2012: $520,000 for medical equipment

2010 and 2011: $675,000 for medical equipment

2009: $425,000 for stroke pilot project 

2008: $4586,000 for cardiac equipment

2007: $850,000 for digital mammography equipment

2006: $248,000 for ultrasound equipment

2005 and earlier: Respiratory equipment, CT scanner, ophthalmologic surgical microscope, ICU equipment, dialysis equipment, and x-ray fluoroscopy machine and more.

Giving... It's Great Medicine was a campaign in 2001 and 2002 to raise funds for health care facilities and equipment The undertaking was the largest fund-raising campaign ever in Yorkton and region. It assisted in the construction of the multi-purpose health care facility adjacent to the Yorkton and District Nursing Home, provided funds for the Intensive Care Unit, contributed to the X-Ray Fluoroscopy campaign, and supplemented the education endowment fund by $50,000.

Colour Doppler Ultrasound: In 1998-99 The Health Foundation made its first significant purchase, a state-of-the-art colour Doppler ultrasound machine at a cost of $204,000. The ultrasound machine allowed the expansion of diagnostic services for the residents of east central Saskatchewan. It provided for an additional 3,000 exams per year, consisting of high quality fine detail imaging.A